Turning Good Evil
by lovecupid
Summary: It is seventh year, but the Golden Trio is with the Order instead, fighting against Voldermort. But what happens when Voldermort decides to pick someone to join him, and that person belonged to the Order? Draco Malfoy is chosen to lure that person over.DH
1. Luring The Enemy

**A/N : Hello all! (: this is my very first fanfic under this new name. (: I hope you'll enjoy the prolouge and please please please read and review k? i hope you'll like it. **

**lots of love-- lovecupid-**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. They all belong rightfully to JK Rowling and if I did, I'd be out dating Tom Felton. (:**

Prolouge

Turning Good; Evil

A congregation of Death Eaters settled outside a three storey house on a lone street in an undisclosed location. The Death Eaters gathered right ouside the large oak doors of the large house in the pouring rain. The night was cold, but a certain chill that settled on their shoulders did not come from the weather; but from fear.

The Death Eaters stood warily outside the doors, all hooded and cloaked in their signature black cloaks with silver linings. At the back of the hood, a clear 'D.E.' lined in silver could be clearly seen. Their hands were all gloved with dragon skin, the most expensive and lavish kind, showing the clear importance of this particular group of Death Eaters. The rest of the Death Eaters had but mere flimsy black _cotton_ cloaks and no gloves at all. Whilst this group had silk cloaks and dragon skin gloves.

But no matter how these material things cost, they could not give them the strength and courage they needed now.

A particular short and stout Death Eater trembled violently against the cold, his hood fell, exposing dark raven hair. The other Death Eaters cast a glance at him, while others had no reaction. But he looked up at the Leader of the elite group, his cool blue eyes usually stoic and emotionless, now filled with unseen fear.

Gripping his cloak tightly, he spoke in a trembling voice.

"You..You do know that this is our fourth failed mission," he said, speaking to the Leader of the pack, a tall hooded one who bore an air of arrogance and pride, cloaked in a special dark green cloak with silver hood. The Leader had his hand firmly placed on the handle, and was preparing to enter the house when his subordinate spoke.

"I know _that _Avery!" snarled the Leader, "And stop trembling like a coward you idiot!"

Avery's head was bent now in shame as the other Death Eaters, despite their personal fears; clucked disapprovingly at Avery.

"I was just saying-" Avery countered in his own defense, but was quickly and rudely cut off mid-sentece.

"I know you," the Leader glanced at the cowering Avery, then at the rest of the group,"..No, all of you, are afraid to face up to the consenquences of our failure..And you all do not wish to meet your fate behind these doors. I shall, instead, go alone, seeing how its more my fault than any of yours."

A silent huge wave of relief washed over the group of elite Death Eaters, and a few were caught heaving sighs of relief, while Avery expressed his relief in a loud sigh and words of 'comfort' to the Leader, whose grip on the door handle tightened considerably.

"Alright, thanks..And um, good..good luck." Avery muttered, and reached out a hand to pat the Leader, who responded with a snarl of annoyance.

The rest of the group nodded in agreement with Avery, and muttered their well-wishes, echoing similar sentiments.

The Leader, a good one he was, though arrogant and haughty, adknowledged all of this with a curt nod. Despite how dark it already was, the rest of the Death Eaters could have sworn they saw traces of fear in their Leader's eyes as he watched them all apparate away one by one.

As the the Death Eaters all left hurriedly, glad as hell, this young hooded Death Eater took a deep breath, and calmed himself down. He was the youngest leader in the entire following of Death Eaters. When he was handpicked to join the ranks of the leaders, many other Death Eaters were appalled, shocked, and some resented. But there was no use for resentment, you were merely killed with a simple curse and completely forgotten.

Resentment to the Lord's wishes was not nicely reciprocated. You would be killed, and your body left to rot without a decent burial. Resentment was a greater sin than betrayal, because betrayal usually meant you got killed by the Dark Lord himself, while if you resent, it was a mere junior who would kill you.

Either way, nothing could stop the Dark Lord from choosing this particular young lad to be the leader of his elite group. But now, the youngling stood outside the house and supressed shudders of fear. Maybe this task of leader was too hard to be, but he could not reject the Dark Lord, nor tell him that he wished to quit. He could only grit his teeth and go in as he left the house 3 weeks ago; proud and tall.

With that, the leader tightened his hood and with a distinct renewed air of arrogance and power, he threw open the oak doors and entered the cold dark corridor, up a flight of creaky stairs, and into the premises of Voldermort.

As the young leader entered the second floor of the house, a single solitary room stood out from a row of other rooms. That room emitted an eerie green light around its doors that made even the bravest Death Eater feel frightened. But this proud though ill-fated leader was not about to stop and give up now, much less cower away. He only fastened his cloak, brushed a few stray hairs of his silk cloak, and trudged on towards that particular room.

But that resolve to be brave quickly broke down as he reached the rosewood door of that room. The door glowed a bright green as he came closer, and he could not help but shudder. Images of Death Eaters who had been killed(for failing their missions) flashed into his mind as he edged closer to the door-and to meeting his fate.

This was his _fourth_ failed mission, surely nothing but death awaited him beyond these doors he thought.

"Only way to know is to find out now," he mummered darkly to himself, his gloved hand raised, and knocked on the door, whose sound resounded through the corridors. He did not have to wait long to find out what exactly was in store for him...

"Come in," a cold metallic voice rang through the door, like nails on a blackboard, and the door creaked an opening just large enough for the Death Eater to enter.

Inside, the room was grand and majestic; if not eerie and ghostly. Decked completely in black from its black walls to its tinted windows, to the plush bearskin rug that adorned the carpeted floor, the room was a picture of majesty and royalty. A dark silk curtain hung around a leather armchair, shielding it from view, its black tassels barely touching the floor. A large bed was hidden from view by a black screen admist other finery. There was also a fire place, but the fire within it emitted no warmth to the bone-chilling room.

All this immense finery would have caused even the richest wizard to gawk, but this Death Eater had seen it one too many times to even take a second glance. Without hesitation(he couldn't possibly stop _now_ right) he strode purposefully towards the black curtain and stopped a few feet away, dropping down on his knees, his hood was down, his head bent, his grey eyes filled with guilt.

"How did it go, Draco?"

Draco Malfoy continued kneeling on the floor, he shivered as the cool metallic voice spoke.

"It did not go well my Master." said Draco softly, his voice trembled slightly with fear.

A hand, though it had no flesh and just bone, gripped the black tassels of the curtain tightly, and tugged at it, revealing the Dark Lord, Voldermort, with his snake like blood shot eyes that now glanced upon his favoured Death Eater.

Getting up from the snug chair, Voldermort placed his snake back on the floor, before he made his way towards Draco, and landed a cold bony hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Now my boy, don't kneel. Stand up." said Voldermort, gripping Draco's shoulder in what was a comforting gesture, but in fact Voldermort was close to killing the boy.

Draco nodded numbly, he knew this was a pretense, and that Voldermort was angrier than ever. Draco got up gracefully, and his white blond hair fell into his eyes.

"Thank you my Lord," he mumbled incohenrently, still staring at the floor.

Voldermort merely nodded. The Dark Lord had weakened considerably Draco could see, from his blood shot eyes, that now seemed weary and tired; to his shaking hand(though it was more bone than anything). Voldermort walked back and sunk into his armchair, beckoning Draco to come closer.

"Why did it fail again?" asked Voldermort, his voice barely audible. Voldemort picked up his snake and carassed it fondly, while keeping his eyes on Draco firmly.

"My Lord, when we arrived at Albercroft's Hill, it was just nearly peaceful mi'Lord, not a sound could be heard. Obviously we had the element of surprise and shock on our side. We were very confident of finally making you proud," Draco mummered guiltily, he was now barely a meter away from the Dark master.

Voldermort nodded, and closed his eyes, his snake slithered around his neck.

"We reached the cottage, and indeed my Lord, Dumbledore had led his students there. Potter, Weasley and the mudblood Granger were all present amongst nearly two hundred remaining living students. Sir, it was clear to us that they were unprepared, but when we started the attack, a sudden clear shield; a force field I'd say, blocked our entire group out."

Voldermort's eyes flew open. "A shield you say? How..clever."

Draco paused, and nodded. "Yes, my Lord, we did not expect that."

"Understandably Dumbledore had a few tricks up his rotton sleeve too." mused Voldermort, and motioned Draco to continue.

"It may be so my Lord, but he did not show those tricks to us. The shield was not from him Sir, but from Granger. The rest of the muggle loving fools were clearly shocked, and it took them quite awhile to react. But Granger caused such a diversion that they soon fled, and Dumbledore himself countered our attacks. We then pursued the group, but the mudblood once again cast a spell on the group, and my Lord, try as we may, we could not find them later on."

Voldermort rose angrily this time, and he gripped the arms of the chair tightly as he walked towards Draco.

"Could not find them? What do you mean Draco!" snarled Voldermort, his breath could be felt on Draco's face now, just inches away. Draco could clearly see the anger bubbling within his Master, and did not hesitate to sink to his knees again.

"I failed you my Master, but an invisiblity spell was cast, I could not remove it hard as I tried, and Granger took chance to hit Nott with a curse, and he attacked me instead, and broke my concentration, leading to the entire group escaping," Draco paused, "we did not even kill a single one."

Voldermort heaved a sigh, his anger subsided as quickly as it came up. He could not be angry with his favourite Death Eater, afterall, Draco Malfoy was going to be his sucessor no matter what. The boy was incredibly talented with the Dark Arts, and had a natural affliction with Dementors, the choice was clear.

Draco felt a hand land on his head, and Voldermort's metallic voice rang in his ears.

"Helen Granger you say, orchestrated this entire escapade?"

"Not Helen my Master, but Hermione, Hermione Granger. And yes sir, she did. She's in my year, we would have been in seventh year together. Granger's a mudblood it may be, but she is far wise beyond her years." supplied Draco.

Voldermort nodded, and motioned Draco to get up, which he did quickly, and follow him.

Voldemort stopped infront of the window of his room. The view outside was hazy, and it was raining, the raindrops peltered the tinted windows.

Gesturing for Draco to come closer, Voldermort reached out a hand and clasped Draco's shoulder.

"Draco, you know the plans I have for you, do you not?"

Draco nodded numbly.

"You may have failed quite a certain amount of times, but that cannot deny your capability. It only tells me that someone is slightly better at our game than you are." said Voldermort softly.

"Do you mean Granger sir?" asked Draco curiously, what was the Dark Lord bothering about a mere mudblood now?

Voldermort smirked. "You guessed correctly. Now Draco, the last three missions all failed because of.." he trailed off.

"Granger." admitted Draco grudgingly.

"Yes Hermione Granger was the reason. Draco, have you ever heard the saying: "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?'"

Draco nodded again, this time clearly confused.

"I can't have a valuable asset like Granger floating around with Dumbledore now can I? She is clearly the reason they have escaped so many times."

"But what do you wish? That we capture her?" asked Draco completely puzzled now.

"No, no, not capture her my boy," Voldermort shook his head violently, "but bring her closer to us, induct her into our world; fill her mind with the Dark Arts!"

Draco was shocked, but even more shocked at what Voldermort said next.

"Turn good, to evil." he hissed.

"How?" Draco stuttered. Hermione Granger was like the epitome of 'good', this was one hell of a weird plan, thought Draco.

Voldermort smiled evilly now, but there was something about his smile that waried Draco. Voldermort sank down back on his armchair, and petted his snake.

"Hermione Granger is a talented witch, powerful no doubt; but she is a woman Draco. Women are vile when they are angry, powerful when they are scorned, and fearless when it comes to protecting their lovers. Granger is but a woman Draco, a powerful smart woman, yes, but still a woman." Voldermort started, still smiling."She is too valuable to be left untouched with Dumbledore. Clearly the old faggot has forgotten about this witch, and clearly thinks of her as a child still, wanting to protect her and use adults instead to help him. We cannot have that now, can we? Such a undiscovered diamond hidden amongst trolls."

Draco was now intriguied. "What do you propose my Master?"

Voldermort placed a bony finger to his lipless mouth. "Shush and listen Draco."

Draco nodded, and sat in a chair not too far from Voldermort.

"Granger must be lured to our side Draco. Not captured, not killed, not kidnapped. Lured my dear Draco, lured." Voldermort drummed his fingers against the chair.

"By who?" asked Draco cautiously casting a glance at Voldermort, who by now was positively radiating with glee.

"By you." Voldermort finished, smiling at Draco, whose mouth now hung slightly open in shock. "Yes, by you Draco. You are devishly good looking, talented, sleath and cunning coniving..all those traits make you the right bait to lure Granger into our den."

"She is so upright and righteous my Lord, even Satan couldn't bring her down to hell!" burst out Draco.

"Satan couldn't, but you can."

"How? How can I not failed in this?"

"By making her fall for you Draco!" the Dark Lord now stood up excitedly.

"Fall..Fall for me? My lord, you want me to marry a mudblood!"

"Yes."

"What, why, how?" stuttered Draco.

"Draco, you and I know that half-bloods are powerful, and maybe mudbloods are disgusting. But seeing Granger was the cause of your failed missions, how can you not change your view? Even I, as the Dark Lord, I abhor muggles, I loathe muggle lovers, but Granger has changed my view of mudbloods. Our purebloodness is dying out Draco, I myself cannot claim to be pureblood, for my father was a bastard son of a bitch. My mother maybe a witch, but she was nonetheless half-blood too." Voldermort snarled. "I have come to accept that theres nothing I can do about mudbloods, except kill them and retain the best of the scum. Granger is _the_ best of the scum. She is better than any of the Death Eaters I have now Draco. You and her are similar in intelligence, rivaled in academics and talent. If you have her on our side Draco, we can and will achieve everything we've wanted and more."

The Dark Lord now spoke in desperation and hope.

"I..I do not believe this my Lord. You, you sir, professed to hate mudbloods!" choked Draco.

Voldermort took a sharp breath. "Believe my words Draco, we will die out if we continue with our pureblood lines. It is the truth and I cannot deny that at least. Granger may be a mudblood Draco, but you and I know their side will win if we do not have a victory soon enough! And Granger is their trump card! She is the reason we fail!"

Draco could only sink into the chair, shaking his head slightly. This was all too much.

"You and her together Draco, her on our side..I am weakening Draco..Everyone on this accursed land knows that! But I need to have a successor, and I've found one in you Draco. You need a wife, and I've found that in Granger."

"Master, I could always marry Pan-"

"Parkinson does not have an iota of intelligence when compared to Granger! I'm not singing her praises now, but she is the most powerful witch now. We need her Draco, I need her power and her talent to help me rule!" shouted the Dark Lord now fuming.

Draco sensed his displeasure at his resentment, and quickly gave in.

"Al..Alright my Lord, what may you have me do?" he said softly, quivering slightly.

Voldermort grinned widely, and took another breath, calming down. "You will make her fall for you Draco. You and I shall play this game of love. You will from tonight, stumble your way towards Dumbledore. Cower at his feet and claim your loyalty to the other side. I shall temporaily remove your mark, and injure you so it may seem you've really turned your back on me.. All this is in pretence. All to better your journey into Granger's heart. You will become a traitor Draco, to gain their trust. And when time's ripe, she's in love with you, you are to marry her, and then everything shall fall in place. You will kill them all Draco, and bring your bride and return to my lair."

"Tonight?" Draco choked, all this barely registering in his mind.

"Yes, tonight. I shall announce your 'betrayal' to the masses. Remember, this is OUR game Draco. No one else will know about this, so expect nothing less than agression from your peers." mummered Voldermort.

Draco felt cold all over, his hands felt clamy and sweaty. Betrayal? All this tonight? And he had to get Granger to fall for him? That would mean cooing up to Pothead and Weasel!

The mere thought disgusted Draco, and scowl found its way to Draco's face.

"I know what you are thinking of Draco, Potter and Weasley are your biggest walls to overcome while on your way through Granger's heart. Take care that they are important figures. I want them killed." Voldermort said, clutching his albino snake tightly in his arm.

"My lord, this is a bone crushing weight you have placed upon me." mummered Draco, thinking of how he was going to convince people he was a traitor to Voldermort when they had seen him attacking them just moments ago.

"Yes it is, but you shall heave it away, and proceed with haste."

Draco bit his lip. "And if I fail?"

"There is nothing to fail. Play your game Draco, make her fall for you. This is one mission you cannot fail and will not fail." Voldermort hissed, his short-temperness returning.

Yet Draco took no heed of the impatience in Voldermort's voice.

"But Sir, not that I am unwilling, but how am I to convince them that I'm a traitor when they just withnessed me attacking them?" Draco questioned, cockying a blond eyebrow.

Voldermort sighed, and drummed his fingers repeatedly.

"That Draco, is a good question." he said finally, breaking the awkward silence that had settled on them moments ago.

Draco smirked, thinking that could get him out of this 'mission', "Not that I'm trying to make this any harder-"

Voldermort raised a hand to silence Draco. "I know you are not willing to 'degrade' yourself Draco, but Granger is worthy. You'll have plenty of time to figure that out when you transfer to _their_ side, but don't bother yourself and me with such worries."

Draco nodded obediently, the smirk washed right off his face. _And I thought I could get out of this._

"Does Dumbledore know where your loyalties lie?"

"He assumes they lie with you Sir." said Draco, watching the Dark Lord carefully.

"Then you shall convince him so. Better yet, sign up with him. Yes, go tell him that you've had enough killing, plead a little; shed a tear or two, and he will be taken in by you soon enough Draco." said Voldermort, a smirk seeping into his face. "Understand?"

"Understood."

Draco heaved a sigh, and Voldermort beckoned him to come closer. "Push your sleeve up Draco."

Draco did as he was told, and revealed the dark mark. Voldermort eyed it and pulled out his wand, tapping Draco's arm and whispered, _'"Immendi"_ and the mark disappeared.

Draco stared at the now pale clean skin where before a large ugly brutal mark had been inflicted upon it.

"I shall place the mark back once you have accomplished your mission. Otherwise, you will only see me when I call for you, through a different way you shall know soon. You will be treated like a traitor from now onwards." said Voldermort.

"Yes Master."

"Alright, now, I shall inflict the cruciatus curse for awhile, and you will then be immediately deported towards their latest hideout at Filan Canyon up north. Bear with it Draco, and I hope you will succeed." said Voldermort seriously, gripping his wand.

Draco barely flinched, and simply removed his Death Eater cloak and prepared to recieve the curse.

"_Crucio!"_

**(: there you go! the first chappie. or prolouge la. from then on Draco starts this really scary mission to convince everyone he's good, whilst he still works for old voldie. so review ok? (:**


	2. The Meeting

**A/N: this is the second chappie! (: all this is pre-written stuff, so i hope you enjoy it. read and review as usual! lowdown on this chapter: Draco goes on with his mission and starts to adapt to his new situation and tries at every chance to make things turn out his way, whilst we learn more about why Dumbledore and co have hidden and what's exactly happen to Hogwarts.**

**lots of arrows shot your way-- lovecupid-**

**OH YES! Replys to the wonderous reviewers! (: I LOVE YOU ALL.**

**Cocoamo1223- Here's the update! I'm glad you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reviewing! -shoots you a love arrow**

**urges- Hehee, your nickname's cute. I like those pairings too! I read a very good one recently, by freaker, go check it out! thanks for reviewing! (: -shoots you a love arrow**

**This chapter therefore is dedicated to my FIRST two reviewers, Cocoamo1223 and urges! 3**

**Chapter 2**

**The Meeting**

Draco Malfoy found himself sprawled out on the grass in a bad shape. His flaxen hair, usually in an impeccable 'do, was now filled with what could politely be called 'grime' and dirt and fell into his face. His grade A branded robes were torn and tattered, the logo 'D.M' was shredded and a large hole in his chest showed him a at least 4 inch long gash on his stomach that still bled slightly. He felt weak and tired, and as he stood up, his legs trembled violently, and he limped slightly when he walked due to the fact his right ankle was swollen; probably broken.

In short, Draco looked every part the traitor that was 'injured' by Voldermort.

Draco cast a glance at his surroundings. It was a bleak bleak future ahead of him he could see. The Dark Lord had obviously sent him towards Filan Canyon where Dumbledore and his lackeys were hiding. Draco smirked at the thought of Potter's face when Draco should come to their hideout. But now he had to figure out where exactly their hideout was. Voldermort had not been very good at his navigating, and thus far had sent Draco to a clearing in a forest, and it was nearly dark now.

Following a long path further down of the clearing, Draco could see smoke comming from a chimney.

"Found you." Draco grimaced as he walked on forward, towards the chimney, where Harry Potter now resides.

_Must not fail this mission Draco, you cannot. Make the Mudblood..No, make Hermione, fall for you by hook or by crook. _

As our handsome Death Eater was slowly making his way towards them, Harry Potter was currently in the living room of their latest hideout; a quaint home with three levels in it.

Harry was pacing the living room, where a cackling warm fire burned brilliantly and Ron and Hermione sat on squashy armchairs reminisent of those in the Gryffindor common room. Harry heaved a sigh as he thought of how life was now.

It would have been seventh year for all of them now, Harry, Ron and Hermione, and all the other seventeen year olds. However, their last year was spent in hiding, dodging Death Eaters, and escaping from Voldermort's evil clutches. Sixth year was their 'last' year in Hogwarts. Voldermort returned to power, and everything was at a disarray. The Ministry of Magic was close to nothing now, and Azkaban was just plainly another Voldermort town. People relied on no one but themselves, and the only form of resilance against Voldermort was of course, the Order of the Phoenix. In their sixth year so many things happened, it was a change in the tides and the start to the uphill challenge of dethroning Voldermort and stopping his reign of evil. In Hogwarts,no one in Slytherin could be trusted, they all more or less turned to the dark side in the Sixth year. Hogwarts could not operate any longer with the Slytherins turning out to all be ardent followers of the Dark Lord. Draco Malfoy, as Harry remembered, was one of the first to proclaim his loyalty to the dark side.

As soon as all these cracks started to appear in Hogwart's seemingly perfect face, Dumbledore saw the sense in closing down the school. And he did, and just 2 months after the students were told to leave the school, Voldermort attacked the castle, and though many students returned back to their homes, there were still Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs in the school, and the teachers never left Hogwarts.

Harry remembered the battle in Hogwarts, his emerald green eyes filled with tears. The battle had occurred as a surprise attack, and Dumbledore's side was caught offguard. Many were killed, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Padma Patil were just some of the casualties. Teachers did not come off unscathed either. Professor Sprout, sadly, was killed by Draco Malfoy himself.

The mere mention of Draco Malfoy made Harry's blood boil. He remembered Malfoy's smirk, his snarl and the lazy drawl of his voice. He also remembered that Malfoy stood out amongst the other Death Eaters, wearing a green cloak instead of the usual black, and also having gloves that looked like some hide of an animal, a snake probably; thought Harry. Malfoy no doubt was christened the 'favourite' as most could see. But that term wasn't just for fun, Malfoy was really a trump card for Voldermort. Malfoy had the best grades next to Hermione, and Harry distinctly remembered him boasting about achieving 9 OWLS earlier on. Yes, Malfoy was a pain in the ass, but he was a threat to Dumbledore.

Ever since that fateful battle, though a majority of them escaped unscathed, Hogwarts could no longer play 'home' to those students that remained. The rest that survived, nearly seventy percent fled back to their homes, and the remaining ones either joined the Order and worked against Voldermort, or they joined Voldermort. It worked either ways. They all were forced to grow up in a matter of weeks, and for some, Hogwarts seemed like a passing dream that never occurred, now lost amongst the current fighting and wars.

Voldermort had not stopped at just attacking Hogwarts, he seemingly knew that they would not stay in Hogwarts for long anyway, and soon he began treking down Harry and company, and attacked them relentlessly. Malfoy had been the leader of those attacks. But Hermione, being Hermione, always fended off the attack somehow. For that she was most respected and many owed their lives to her. Harry's life too, was indebted to her.

Just as Harry reminised about the year's events, Hermione noticed the creasing frown on his forehead. Standing up from her comfortable position, she walked towards him and eased her hand across his forehead, causing a smile(a rare one) to appear on Harry's otherwise fatigue-filled face.

"You look so worried, whats wrong?" asked Hermione softly, her two hands entwined in Harry's as she squeezed his hands for comfort, her brown eyes searching his face for answers.

Harry gave her a wane smile, and squeezed her hands harder. "Nothing's wrong 'Mione. I'm just..thinking about..thinking about Hogwarts." he said quietly, his eyes downcast.

Hermione lifted his chin, making him look up. Smiling, she circled her hands around his neck and kissed his cheek, pulling him into a hug.

"Don't. Don't think about that now, ok?" she whispered softly into his ear, his hands around her waist.

Harry nodded, still holding Hermione.

The pair had struck up quite a 'romantic' relationship during this time of chaos if you may. Ron was indefinitely estatic about his two best friends getting together, but with times so bad, the tension in the air was so thick that sometimes you could cut it with a knife. Their relationship was shaky definitely, wrought with fears and troubles. It had been a hard ride from the start of sixth year when Harry decided to ask Hermione out. But Hermione had never stopped supporting Harry, and though things weren't the way she'd imagine them to be normally, she accepted her fate and chose to stick it out with Harry, believing that after all this was over, they'd finally be able to have a proper relationship. Not the tension filled, squabbling one they had now.

Ron stared at the fire as the two pulled away from their hug, with Hermione rubbing Harry's back comfortingly, saying soothing words softly. All this happened daily, and the stress took its toll on Harry, whose fun personality was seemingly robbed from him. But Ron and Hermione hadn't taken it any easier either. Ron was now less humourous, and mellowed into a quieter person, now often staring in space, his blue eyes no longer sparkled, and his smile did not come as often as it used to. Ron still was probably the humour amongst the three, but in recent times he had to grow up quickly, and now no longer held thoughts of Quidditch or girls anymore, it was just thoughts of death and dying, and how they'd get away from Voldermort and 'kill the old faggot' as he often said.

Hermione too, had grown wearier and thinner through these trying times. Her appearance changed alot, though she retained her bossy yet kind personality. Hermione's eyes once full of vigour and happiness, now were dark and suspicious. She grew taller, thinner, and morphed into quite a beauty if not for her constant tiredness. That said, all three looked haggard and tired that evening, the first in their new hideout.

"So, how do you like this place?" said Ron, slightly more enthusiastic, breaking out of his daze.

Hermione, now seated at the couch holding Harry's hand, smiled at his enthusiasm. "I think its alot better than Albercroft's Hill. At least we've got enough place for the Order."

"Yeah, I like it better too. The last place," Ron paused and made a face, "totally too squishy. No place to just hang and chill."

Harry mumbled an agreement, sinking quickly back into his own depressing thoughts.

Ron saw a look of concern flicker over Hermione's face, but he motioned for her to quiet, and leave Harry be. Harry was nowadays constantly in this sort of daze. Ron and Hermione had to learn to leave him for awhile.

Nodding at Ron, Hermione cautiously pulled her hand away from Harry's and pecked him swiftly on the cheek.

"I guess you don't want to be disturbed now, I'll leave you for a bit and help Mrs Weasley with dinner. I'll come call you later?" asked Hermione softly.

Harry simply just nodded, and continued staring at the fire. Ron got up and left too, clamping a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Take it easy, mate." mumbled Ron as he followed the worried Hermione out of the living room and into the kitchen.

As Hermione walked down the stairs towards the kitchen, she couldn't help but cast a glance backwards at the living room.

Ron, seeing her worry, draped an arm across her shoulders. "Don't worry too much Hermione, he..he just needs time."

Hermione smiled, "I know Ron, I'm okay, really."

Ron grinned, "Good to know. Lets go down and help Mom, maybe we'll get some food!"

Hermione laughed, and the pair went down towards the kitchen to help Molly Weasley, who was preparing dinner for twenty.

The group that Ron, Harry and Hermione were part of, consisted of twenty members of the Order. The rest of the Order were scattered around England, and moved in seperate groups. Dumbledore had decided that every one should be grouped and the groups should scatter, for fear if they remained as one solid community, each time they faced elimination during Voldermort's frequent attacks. All had agreed with the solution and all still kept in touch through Floo networks, or through appariation. Hermione, Ron, and Harry, were joined in their group by Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape(though he did not stay there), Molly and Arthur Weasley, Fred and George Weasley, Minerva McGonagall, Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Moody, Professor Flitwick and Kingsley Shaklebolt.

This group of seventeen mostly all bunked together as they moved in a group, but this time they managed to get not one, but two houses to live in Filan's Canyon. So they further divded themselves between two houses and all agreed to congregate in this house for dinner. They would be joined by Dumbledore and two other former Hogwarts students who were expected to join the group.

As Hermione made her way down,(Ron was already AT the kitchen), the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" she yelled and made her way towards the door and flung it open.

"Good evening Hermione," greeted Albus Dumbledore. Hermione greeted him back, and welcomed the other half of the group into the house. Fred and George had cheekily offered her a tart for "opening the door so graciously" but Hermione, had 'graciously' declined and laughed as she watched the twins offer Ron a tart, which he gamely accepted, only to be turned into a fat rat, causing quite a bit of turmoil in the now bursting household.

Dumbledore then introduced Hermione to the two latest additions to their group of seventeen. Two more boys, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot.

Hermione smiled widely, and greeted them with each a hug. The two were in the same year as Hermione, Harry and Ron, and were excellent students. They would be an asset to this group.

"Its so nice to see you again Hermione." said Anthony, holding Hermione at arm's length, examining her. "You've thinned considerably."

"Its too be expected, Anthony. All this rush and tension doesn't do much for me!" she joked, "Its great to see you again." she added, smiling at Terry Boot.

"The pleasure is ours Hermione. How good it is to see fellow Hogwarts students.." Terry trailed off, obviously thinking back about Hogwarts.

Anthony slapped a hand on Terry's back, and smiled. "Now, now, Terry, lets not be a damper today alright?"

Terry nodded, and Hermione linked arms with them as she led them to see Seamus, Dean, Ron and Harry, all of which were delighted to see the two Ravenclaws. Harry actually laughed and smiled a genuine smile. Hermione felt relieved when she saw Harry laugh. It had been quite awhile since he did.

The seventh years settled at the living room awhile before dinner. Anthony, now a lot taller and darker skinned, spoke jovially most of the time, his brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and he seemed a lot more cheerful than the gloomy Terry, who from his arival, had smiled less then 3 times. Once when he met Hermione, the other two smiles were also reserved for meeting his old Hogwarts friends. Hermione could not help but feel that seeing all these fellow students only made Terry miss his girlfriend, Padma Patil more.

The group sat around the fire, some on the couch, others on the floor.

"So Anthony, where did you come from?" asked Seamus Finnigan cheerily, flashing Anthony and impish grin.

"Oh, just from Diagon Alley actually. Terry and I had to meet Dumbledore there first. Before that of course, Terry and I were kinda, hiding out with the other groups of the Order." said Anthony.

"Did you see Ginny, Bill and Charlie?" asked Ron. Ginny, Bill and Charlie Weasley belonged to another group of the Order, they kept in touch regularly, but the Weasleys were still very worried about them. Their current location is said to be near Albercroft's Hill, where Voldermort just last attacked, and the past week had been very worrying for all the Weasleys when they heard Ginny's group was nearing Albercroft's Hill.

Terry shook his head. "No, we didn't get to visit their group though. But we met Roger Davis and Colin Creevy in one of the groups."

Harry smiled, "Is Colin well?" Harry had become fast friends with the Creevy brothers, though Dennis still somewhat annoyed Harry, Colin was a fine friend.

"Oh yes, he is well," said Anthony, "I hear Lavender Brown's quite soft with him."

The group burst out laughing at that news, and Ron's face flushed a bright red. Anthony teased further with Lavender's news, but they were stopped by Mrs Weasley's yell.

"Kids! Dinner's ready!" she called from the kitchen, and soon everyone in the house filed into the kitchen, which had been majicked to fit twenty comfortably.

A huge round table sat right smack in the middle of the large room, plenty of cushy chairs lined around it. A Lazy Susan sat atop the table, filled with food. All kinds of food.

Hermione's eyes grew large at the amount of food on the table. There was turkey, ham, roast beef etc. The list just when on and on! Usually they did have quite a fair amount of food on the table, but this was like a Hogwarts feast!

As if reading her thoughts, Harry bent towards her and whispered in her ear. "Just like Hogwarts huh?"

Hermione turned to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. "Just like Hogwarts." she smiled.

Harry grinned, and led Hermione to a seat next to Ron, and then settled comfortably next to her. The chairs were all soon filled, and there was endless chattering and talking throughout dinner. Severus Snape had managed to join them tonight, and they were all talking happily, momentarily forgeting about the great war right outside Filan's Canyon.

Ron was stuffing his face while talking to Terry Boot(a remarkable feat for Ron), eating to his heart's content. Hermione too had an appetite and was helping herself to a third helping of roast beef and potato.

"Molly, you've really outdone yourself this time!" exclaimed Minerva McGonagall, sitting right opposite Hermione. Hermione flashed Professor McGonagall a knowing smile and continued with her food.

"Oh, Minerva, this is just simple fare!" said a slightly flushed Mrs Weasley.

"Ye Gads! No way Molly! This is better than those feasts we had in Hogwarts!" chimed Professor Flitwick, who with the aid of four cushions, was sitting at the same height as everyone.

The rest of the table mummered their agreements, all still stuffing their tired faces to the food. They all seemingly had a great appetite that night and ate like they never ate before. Perhaps it was because of the arrival of Anthony and Terry, who injected new blood into the order, and it was great to see new faces.

Nevertheless, the atmosphere was light and happy, and Hermione felt contented after a huge dinner, and watched as the people begun to mix around and mingle for awhile before some of them returned to the other house just next door. Terry and Anthony were shown to the other house, as there was no more room in this home.

Hermione was helping Molly Weasley clean up, while joking and laughing with Ron and Harry. The latter had cheered up considerably with the arrival of the two Ravenclaws, and now was busy wiping dishes while shooting Hermione impish grins as Ron bantered on and on about how he missed food at Hogwarts.

It was nearly midnight now, and everything was clean and cleared. Molly and Arthur Weasley, and most of the household had already gone to bed, but Dumbledore still remained here, playing chess with Ron, whose ears were turning red with annoyance that finally someone was beating him at his favourite game.

Harry and Hermione were sitting on the couch facing each other just talking about mostly nothing, with Ron's added jabs into their conversations and Dumbledore's useful information. Harry was in a pretty good mood, talking and laughing for most of the conversation.

Just as Ron yelled an estatic "Checkmate!", the doorbell rang. The sound resounded off the walls, and Hermione could distinctly hear at least three Order members were roused from their sleep.

Dumbledore looked up, a frown on his face.

"I wonder who that could be," mummered the wizard.

Harry looked perplexed too, "Its so late already," he added.

Hermione shrugged, "Maybe someone left something behind just now. I'll get it."

"I'll come with you." offered Harry, and Hermione smiled, and the two walked together to the door with Dumbledore not too far behind.

Hermione pulled open the door.

"Avada-" Harry yelled, but Hermione quickly stopped him, shushing him.

"No! Harry! Don't!" Hermione grabbed his wrist, pulling it down. "Professor Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore fastened his pace and rushed towards the door.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco Malfoy looked up expectantly and smirked his famous Malfoy smirk. "Professor Dumbledore." he nodded in reply.

Malfoy looked like he just went through a hurricane. His robes were torn, tattered, and had he had a long gash on his stomach, that was still bleeding. He sported numerous bruises, cuts and his right ankle was swollen. His normally impeccable hair was now flopping onto his face. Dried blood on his chin.

"Granger..Potter.." he mummered, his grey eyes darkened slightly.

Before they knew it, Malfoy was slumped, over ontop of Hermione, falling right into her arms.

**How did you like it? Not as I planned actually.. Hmm. but I do like Malfoy falling into Hermione's arms. (: its his start to the 'game'.**


	3. Disagreements

**A/N: THanks so much for the reviews! Haha. i know this is a little quick, but im just gonna write the third chappie. (: i hope you like it!**

**Cocoamo1223- Thanks so much! (: Here's the third chappie for you! -shoots love arrow**

**ElizabethV- Haha! I'm glad you liked it! I hope this chapter is as exciting too! (: Thanks alot! -shoots love arrow**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, they all rightfully belong to JK Rowling. If I did, I'd publish the good fanfics. : **

**Chapter Three**

**And So It Begins**

Hermione almost fell over from the weight of Draco Malfoy, who had conviniently fainted and fell into Hermione, who struggled to stand straight despite the weight.

"Malfoy?" said Hermione, completely bewildered, holding the unconcious Malfoy at arm's length while he swayed and fell back into her arms. Hermione cast a desperate look at Harry.

Harry looked positively livid, and in a moment, pushed Draco Malfoy off Hermione, leaving the young man lying sprawled out on the floor. Grabbing Hermione's arms, he pushed her further away from Malfoy and stood in front of her like a shield. His wand still pointed at Malfoy, who now, in his state, was unable to hurt an ant let alone Hermione. But Harry wasn't taking any chances with him, and quickly moved a few feet away from his sprawled out form.

Dumbledore peered cautiously at the young Draco Malfoy. Noticing a steady stream of blood that was now staining the carpet, Dumbledore quickly and deftly turned Malfoy over to face him, and held the Death Eater gingerly while examining him.

By this time the loud yells that came from Harry had already woken up the entire household, and members of the Order came trapeizing down the stairs, all holding their wands out. Seeing Hermione hidden behind Harry, Ron stepped up to Harry's side, and saw Malfoy. Immediately, Ron wanted to shout the killing curse, but Hermione blocked him once again.

"NO! Ron, wait!" Hermione said breathlessly. Harry glared at her, not quite knowing why she was shielding this Death Eater who had killed so many. Obviously as the other members of the Order came down the steps, and saw the young Death Eater, they too wanted to know why he was not killed immediately.

"Albus! Whats the meaning of this?" asked Minerva McGonagall shrilly, pointing a sharp finger at the unconcious Malfoy. The rest of the members started voicing out their thoughts too.

"He should be killed! What is HE doing here on our turf?" piped up an angry Seamus Finnigan, whose wand was also pointed at Malfoy.

"Get him out of here!" exclaimed Dean Thomas.

"No, kill him!" screeched Nymphadora Tonks.

"Castrate him!" yelled a slightly flushed Terry Boot.

Dumbledore placed Malfoy on the floor and stood infront of him. He raised his hand and an immediate silence fell over all the members.

"Thank you all for keeping quiet," said Dumbledore softly, "please, let us not be rash and try to kill Mr.Malfoy here, as he is obviously incapable of harming us as of now."

Snickers of disbelief echoed in the household, and Flitwick tutted disapprovingly. "Shush!" he ordered, casting a glare around the circle of members that had gathered around the doorway.

Dumbledore smiled serenely. "I ask for your understanding now, that we must save this boy first and not kill him whilst he is so badly injured. It is unethical to do so, and I assure you I have an explaination for all this. But now we need to save young Malfoy and save him quickly." Dumbledore paused and looked at the disgruntled faces of the members of the Order and cast a reproachful look at a particularly livid Harry Potter. "Now, we all know that this boy has killed more than his fair share of people, but he could be a useful addition to the Order. We don't know his motive for coming here, and we don't know if the Dark Lord knows our hideout. These are all valuable questions he must have answers to. So we must save him."

"But Albus, what use is he to us?" asked Lupin.

"Of much use Remus. But we cannot talk about this any longer. Dean, kindly go over to the other house and wake the group residing there and tell them to meet us here quickly. Molly, Nymphadora; I hand this boy to you. I implore you to take good care of him not just from the goodness in your hearts, but because he could help us defeat Voldemort. The rest of you, please, adjorn to the living room and make yourself comfortable. As soon as Mr Malfoy is settled in, we will have a discussion promptly and quickly about what next to do." said Dumbledore, and though disgruntled, most of the members nodded, and Dean soon sprinted to the other house to inform them and the rest left for the living room, which Flitwick majicked to be larger. The remaining teen members of the Order, Seamus, Terry Boot, Harry, Hermione and Ron, walked back to the living room, whilst Flitwick and McGonagall, Lupin and Arthur Weasley followed Dumbledore into the kitchen where they started discussing in low tones with sudden bursts of emotion from McGonagall.

Hermione wrapped her arm around Harry's, and slowly led him towards the living room with the rest of the members and away from the sight of Draco Malfoy, now being levitated by Tonks and led upstairs to one of the vacant rooms. Harry was positively seething, and his emerald eyes blazed with anger, whilst Ron lagged behind, running his hand through his messy hair and muttering to himself.

"Harry, please, don't fume." Hermione said quietly, pulling Harry to sit on the couch with Ron and Seamus.

"How do I not be angry Hermione, when Dumbledore chooses to provide this..fiend, with shelter, at our expense no less!" said Harry loudly, clearly agitated, and shrugged Hermione's hand off his arm.

Hermione flinched a little, hurt by this gesture, but nevertheless, placed a firm smile on her face. "But Harry, Dumbledore has explainations, he always does."

"Yes, but giving shelter and comfort to this son of a bitch who killed so many of us! Hermione! That man was a Death Eater! Why are you defending him!" snarled Harry, this time he glared at Hermione heatedly.

Suddenly all eyes focused on the argument between Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Everyone started to stare pointedly at Hermione, a blush creeping onto her face.

"I'm not defending him Harry! Its just that he's so badly injured and comes all the way here, shouldn't we help him! And what, just leave him to die there and suffer? He really might be a great help to the Order! Maybe he just wants to turn over a new leaf. Shouldn't we give him a chance!" countered Hermione hotly, she couldn't believe Harry was being such a prat when it came to this.

Harry clambered off the couch, shaking slightly with anger. He strode towards the middle of the room, still glaring at Hermione.

"Don't you get it Hermione! HE is the reason we are stuck here! HE is the cause of so many deaths! Where's Professor Sprout I ask you? Six feet under. And why? Because of DRACO MALFOY. The jackass has killed so many people, caused us so much pain. And yet you sit there and calmly defend him! If Draco Malfoy wanted to change into a better person, if he wanted to defect Voldermort and come join us, he could have done so MANY YEARS AGO HERMIONE!" yelled Harry, his emerald green eyes sparked with anger as he glared furiously at Hermione.

Hermione felt tears sting her eyes. Harry never talked to her like that, and clearly they had issues to iron out, but she couldn't let him off without a good argument. Especially after he just insulted her intelligence!

Ron saw the anger that sparked in his best friend's eyes, and turned to see Hermione's chocolate ones glaze over with tears. He reached out a hand to pat her back, but she withdrew quickly, flashing him an apologetic smile.

Hermione stood up too, her back was straight and her eyes flared. "I'm not saying that he didn't do anything wrong Harry! I'm just asking you; is it so wrong to let him rest and get well, before we do anything about him? Why can't we treat him well? He is as of now, a prisoner in the Order. And even if we find out that he was on some twisted mission for Voldemort, we can still kill him LATER."

"You obviously don't remember how people were killed by Draco Malfoy, Hermione. They were slaughtered like animals, not given an ounce of respect. How can you shield a monster like that!" Harry now turned his back upon Hermione, and said later in a softer tone, "You're not the person I thought you were then, swayed by a pretty face."

Hermione felt her blood boil at his last statement. Her hands curled into balls of fists, and she looked at everyone else sitting in the living room, her heart felt like someone stuck a dagger right through it and left it there. Her throat felt dry and her tongue was still. No retort came from her. She couldn't even bear to look at Ron, Harry had thrust a dagger into her heart and just left it bleeding there.

Ron stepped up between the pair, and placed his hands on Harry's shoulders. "Mate, calm down. She didn't mean anything." he muttered in a soft tone.

From the armchair by the fire, Seamus nodded, "Yeah, come on, she didn't mean any malice."

But Terry Boot thought otherwise, and shot a fiery glare Hermione's way. "I think Harry's right." he said audibly, staring at Harry determinely.

Hermione was about to answer when a loud noise came from the door.

"I'm back! I got the rest of the Order!" yelled Dean, and true enough, Anthony Goldstein, Fred and George Weasley(all tousled hair and groaning), Moody and Kingsley Shaklebolt trudged through the door, and all naturally filed towards the living room and settled themselves comfortably.

The fiesty couple could not continue their argument, and Hermione instead settled for a seat far away from Harry's at the couch, and she sat gingerly next to George Weasley, who seemed to notice her teary eyes, and patted her on the back before falling asleep, his head lolling about.

Hermione didn't dare look at Terry who was oppsite her, and instead focused on the floor, feeling nonetheless lousy about the whole evening.

Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick came in later, and a silence fell over the members of the Order. Harry, still seething, refused to look at Dumbledore or Hermione.

"I apologise for waking you up at this time, I know its far past your bedtimes," said Dumbledore, "but there is an important matter to be discussed."

Everyone sat up straighter, and even George Weasley awoke from his stupor and sat straighter.

"Just awhile ago, Draco Malfoy, arrived at the doorstep of this house. He was very badly injured, cut in various places, sporting bruising around his abdomen and he looked terribly horrid. It seems to be the end product of a particularly nasty Cruciatus curse. Draco Malfoy is now lying upstairs, while Molly and Nyphadora start to help him."

As he finish, as predicted, the other members, who were unaware of this started their protests. George Weasley was flushed with anger as he and his twin brother started yelling in identical voices about what a traitor Malfoy was.

Dumbledore put his hand up and silenced them. "Please. Listen. We do not know his reason for coming to us, but we should not deny him a shelter, especially when he is so injured. The reason being that Mr. Malfoy could well be a defector of Voldermort, and was thus punished and maybe he wants to help us. Either way, if he is out to harm us, we have the upper hand. I want your support in this. I cannot have everyone gaining up to attack him while he is here. May I ask that until we discover his true motives, everyone should place a calm and unbias front? Should he turn out to harm us, we can easily kill him and eliminate Voldermort's trump card. And if he really wants to return to the light side, then we have earned ourselves a very talented young wizard."

Mummers of agreement(from the adults) came and most adults nodded, Hermione, Anthony, Seamus and Dean nodded calmly too. But Ron, who cast a sideways glance at Harry, was about to nod, but changed it to a shuffling of feet and bent head. The Weasley Twins glowered at Dumbledore for awhile, then seeing their father's glare, nodded slightly, still muttering in soft tones about Dumbledore's decision.

Harry and Terry did not nod, and instead they fixed a penetrating gaze at the members who did nod, and Harry's gaze fell on Hermione, who tried to give him a weak smile, but instead of reciprocating, he instead glared at her before glaring at Dumbledore.

Hermione felt crushed, and listless as Dumbledore and the other members started discussing about certain things she was sure the younger members of the Order were not allowed to hear. And she was right, Arthur Weasley soon stood up and smiled at the teenagers.

"Alright, this is adult stuff, so you teens just scoot back to your house, and your beds." he said smiling at Hermione. Hermione smiled weakly, and quickly left the room first, and nearly broke into a run back into her room, which was on the third level oppsite Tonks, she and Tonks were the only 'single' women in the household, and thus were granted their own rooms with their own privacy on the third level. They shared a bathroom on the third level too, and Hermione was grateful now, that Tonks was opposite her instead of any of the boys. She couldn't face them today.

Hermione made it upstairs safely, and she quickly locked herself in the room, she could hear the boys going up to the second level. She could hear Ron's soothing voice, and she too could hear Terry's impatient grunts of disapproval. Shaking her head, tears now falling down her face, Hermione sank down onto the floor, her back against the locked door, still stung at Harry's words.

_How can he just doubt me like that? 'Swayed by a pretty face'! What the hell does THAT mean!_

Hermione bit her lip, her face now flushed with anger. Later, she calmed herself down, and thinking properly, she convinced herself that Harry just had a flood of bad memories.

Hermione got up from her position at the floor, pulled out her wand and muttered a few locking spells before she sank into her bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

_Maybe all this was just a dream and it'll all go away.._

**End of Chapter! (: Yay! Okay, this chapter right is a little shorter so sorry, Harry displays that bout of teenage angst you see in bookfive(i hated that in bookfive!) and he kinda feels threatened by Malfoy, yup yup. Being the hottie and cutie that he is, Harry can't think straight, and is quite confused about it. All this to the unconcious Malfoy's advantage of course. **

**NEXT CHAPTER: Malfoy talks to Hermione, and Harry and Hermione try to iron their issues out. **


	4. Saying Sorry

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed the third chapter! Enjoy this one too! **

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned, they all belong to JK Rowling. \**

**craziweirdo- your name is really cute! thanks alot! i will keep updating if you keep reviewing! hope you enjoy this chappie. -shoots you a love arrow**

**londonmalfoy- thanks for your review. yeah, draco's a naughty boy in this fic! (: lots of love! -shoots you a love arrow**

**bookwormj- aww! you make me blush! thanks ALOT. im glad you liked it! heres the update! (: hugs hugs hugs. -shoots you a love arrow!**

**Cocoamo1223- thanks alot! you really make my day! (: thanks for reviewing so many times. 3 -shoots you a HUGE arrow of thanks:**

**ElizabethV- haha! i HATED those burst outs! I can't wait till Draco and Hermione talk too.. but haha. that will be probably in end chapter 5 or the whole of chapter 6! but it WILL HAPPEN. i promise! -cross my heart. (: thanks for your lengthy review! -shoots you a BIG arrow of thanks:**

**Chapter Four**

**Resolving Differences**

Hermione rolled over onto her side, her hair fell in her face, the sun shined right through the window in the cramped room. Hermione groaned slightly, and turned to bury her face in her pillow and tried to get back to sleep, but to no avail. Grumbling incoherently about the bright sunshine that shone into her room, Hermione sat up and stretched, still yawning and swung her legs off the bed and pulled her bathrobe on, tying it messily while she slipped on her comfortable 'bunny' shoes.

She was just about to open the door to go to the bathroom when she couldn't open the door. Grunting and heaving, she continued trying to open the door but only to burn her hand on the knob. Suddenly a light bulb flashed in her brain.

_I locked it._

Hermione swore, and blew angrily at her smarting hand before grabbing her wand and undoing all those nasty locking spells she placed on the door. Last night's events flooded her mind as she remembered Harry and Terry's anger towards her, and the fight she had with Harry. Locking the door to prevent anyone from coming in. No one even bothered to knock on her door, thought Hermione.

Feeling like her entire day was thrown out of the window, Hermione suddenly felt full of fatigued and wanted to crawl back into bed, unwilling to face the penetrating gazes from those emerald green eyes.

Fustrated, Hermione ran a hand through her hair, still contemplating between her choices: going back to bed and hiding or facing the music by being the true Gryffindor she was. As much as the first option sounded like heaven to her, Hermione, being Hermione, chose the latter option, and heaved a sigh before she thrust open her door determinely and walked quickly into the bathroom and locked the door, before immersing herself in a hot shower.

After her shower she brushed her teeth and dried her hair with a simple spell before tying it up hastily. Hermione then got dressed in a pair of snug jeans and a baby tee before she went downstairs to breakfast.

As she thundered down the steps and into the kitchen, she found herself face to face with Harry, Ron, and Terry Boot, all were eating their breakfasts and paused to see Hermione rush in.

Hermione managed a weak smile and settled at the end of the table, grabbing some toast and scooping eggs onto her plate, all the while staring firmly at the willow-patterned plate. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Hermione fiddled with her food, not really eating. When she finally did look up, she saw a pair of blue eyes glaring at her; Terry Boot.

_Freaking jackass._

Hermione swore inwardly, but managed to control her anger and continued eating in silence, Ron was shooting her sympathetic looks, but Hermione didn't feel any more comforted. She cast a glance at Harry, but his eyes too, were firmly set on his plate.

Terry finally finished eating, and with a parting glare at Hermione, he left the kitchen. Hermione could not help but heave a sigh of relief as she watched Terry's retreating form leave the kitchen.

_One day I'm going to settle this with you Terry Boot._ thought Hermione, feeling more comfortable. Ron even managed to start a conversation.

"So, 'Mione, did you sleep well?" he asked casually, shoving scrambled eggs into his mouth as he spoke.

Hermione nodded, smiling cheerily. "Like a baby. Where's Mr and Mrs Weasley? And the rest?"

"Mm, the others are somewhere else, doing "adult" stuff," Ron made a face,"but Mum is upstairs with Tonks.." Ron trailed off, and cast Harry a suspecting look, but Harry only continued eating silently.

"Oh, I see." said Hermione softly, she was worried about Harry, was he still angry at her? "Er, any idea what we're going to do today?" she asked in a mock cheery voice, trying to lift the tension.

"Dunno, mate, what do ya wanna do?" Ron jabbed Harry.

Harry glared sullenly at Ron before replying. "Kill Malfoy." he said coldly.

Ron grimaced and shot Hermione a warning look; Hermione's mouth was open and she was about to counter his statement, but with Ron's look, she set her mouth in a firm line and didn't say anything.

Harry seemed surprised, and looked her in the eyes for the first time. "Aren't you going to visit _Draco_?" Harry asked, his voice as cold as ever.

"Aw, Harry, c'mon-" Ron started, but Harry cut him off deftly with a glare.

Hermione bit her lip. Harry was being completely nonsensical and obviously picking a fight. Anger bubbled within the feisty Griffyndor and before she could help it, words started to tumble out of her mouth.

"No, I'm not. I was planning to spend time with you and Ron, but maybe we don't need to spend any time together." replied Hermione, using a scathing tone to speak to Harry.

Harry fixed his eyes on her, his gaze unwavering. "Maybe with Draco around we'll never need to spend anytime together."

"What's wrong with you Harry? Why do you keep dragging Malfoy into this? I didn't do anything wrong!" said Hermione angrily, her voice rising by the minute.

"Oh yes you did. You defended him!" thundered Harry, his emerald eyes glazed.

Ron placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Hey, chill."

Harry merely shrugged the hand away and continued. "Hermione you shielded that man, and blocked me from killing him! Why!"

"Because its not right to kill someone when they're so seroiusly injured! I would have thought you knew that Harry! You never take advantage of a person's injuries and just finish him off! Its not ethical!"

"Keeping that _monster_ alive is not ethical!" snarled Harry, throwing his fork down in anger.

"It may not be ethical to YOU, but I don't necessarily share in that belief!" countered Hermione.

"You just like him don't you? Like that pretty face he has! He's a MONSTER Hermione! Stop being shallow by shielding him!" yelled Harry. As soon as the words came out from his mouth, Ron groaned and cursed softly.

Hermione felt tears brim in her eyes, she couldn't belief Harry was talking to her like that. Of all things he had to be jealous, JEALOUS of a near dying man. Jealous of the only man Hermione hated. It hurt her deeply when Harry said she was shallow. She was anything but shallow.

Harry saw the look on Hermione's face, suddenly he felt washed with guilt. Why did he have to be so hotheaded!

_Shit, Harry you asshole! Look what you did! Now she's never going to talk to you again!_ thought Harry, swearing inwardly and cursing Malfoy for his pitiful existence.

"I never..Never liked Malfoy Harry Potter. I never did. I loathed him, but clearly you can't see anything in your deranged state. Me, shallow? Open your eyes and look at the world around you and maybe you'll understand where I come from. You disappoint me," Hermione said softly and her chocolate eyes filled with tears, fixed her gaze on Harry and cast him a sad look that made his heart pang with sadness before she dropped her cutlery and darted quickly upstairs where she locked herself in her room, muttered the same old locking spells and fell onto her bed.

"Mate, that was WAY overboard." said Ron shakily, glancing at his best friend, who sank back into his chair after his heated outburst.

Harry nodded, "I know."

"Why are you so pissed at her anyway? She's right you know." muttered Ron, scraping up the remainder of his food.

Harry swivelled to look at his best friend. "What?"

Ron swallowed, and looked at Harry, "I said, she's right about not killing people when they're hurt already." said Ron seriously, "And whats up with the whole 'shallow' thing? Dude, she likes YOU, not Malfoy. She hates Malfoy."

Harry sighed, "I know, I went out of line."

"Out? Harry, you were miles out of line!"

Harry groaned, "I know that Ron! Stop making me feel guilty."

"Go apologise. Like, now." said Ron.

Harry paused, and stared at his feet, he felt like he had a hole in his stomach with butterflies flying in and out of it. His mouth went dry and his chewed on his lip; a trait he had no doubt learned from Hermione. Casting his pride aside to apologise seemed like a task that was too difficult to do, but yet if he didn't apologise, he knew Hermione probably forget whatever chemistry and feelings they developed over this chaotic times and probably not talk to him. Or worse; revert back to treating him like a normal friend. Harry didn't want that. He loved Hermione, thats it. Love made him say all those silly things, Love made him feel all those funny things, Love made him feel jealous of a dying Malfoy, whom Hermione barely spoke 3 sentences to her entire life. Harry knew if he didn't go mend the situation and apologise, Hermione would never ever forget about this earlier episode, and would rear her stubborness and ignore Harry for eternity.

Ron, seeing his best friend mulling over his options, clucked disapprovingly, startling a dazed Harry.

"Ron, you sound like your mother!" joked Harry feebily, though he felt as if a huge stoned weighed upon his heart.

Ron shook his head. "Harry, go apologise. Chuck your man pride and apologise!"

Harry grimaced. "I guess I really should, huh?"

Ron nodded vigourously. "You don't get away so easily by calling Hermione a 'shallow' person and shuffing her in the 'Lavender Brown' category! She would have killed you if not for the fact she's crazy over you."

Harry couldn't help but smile at Ron's bluntness. The redhead, seeing his best friend's smile, grinned and nudged him to go after Hermione, who was currently hidden in her room.

"But mate, I'd get my hand scalded on that door of hers!" said Harry, remembering the various spells Hermione used to lock herself in.

Ron shrugged, "Beats not having her talk to you for life!"

"Have to agree with you on that. So, you're fine cleaning up?" Harry dragged on, shuffling his feet a little, a sudden wave of nervousness fell on his shoulders.

Ron nodded and sighed pitifully. "Good luck Harry!"

Harry smiled, and then quickly left the dining room and ran up to the third floor, and arrived outside Hermione's room.

He could hear muffled sobs coming from her room. Immediately he felt totally guilty all over again. Her last words replayed in his mind continously, reminding him of his utter foolishness this morning. He was about to reach for the knob, when he remembered all those nasty spells Hermione usually cast on doors to keep them lock. Keeping that in mind, Harry pulled out his wand from his pocket, and muttered the counter spells for the locks. A white light shone from the door and then it was locked no more.

Harry knocked once, and knocked twice, but Hermione chose not to answer.

"Hermione! Its..Its Harry. I know you're inside. Please let me in." called Harry.

"Go away!" came the muffled reply.

Harry sighed, "Herms, we need to talk ok?"

"No, we don't." argued Hermione, "Go away!"

Harry groaned in fustration and knocked loudly again, "I know I was a prat just now, and I'm sorry alright? We really need to talk Hermione!"

A silence fell over the third floor, no response came from Hermione, she probably was considering thought Harry. And he stepped away from her door, just standing there and praying that she would open her door.

"Come in," said Hermione softly, and a grin came to Harry's face. 'Thank God she's not THAT angry', thought Harry, opening the door slightly and first poking his raven haired head in.

"Er, I can come in?" he asked tentatively, and Hermione, whose back was facing him, nodded. "Thanks." Harry shut the door behind him quickly, and stood near her bed, hovering about uncertainly.

There was an awkward silence between the two, before Hermione broke the silence. "You said we needed to talk?"

"Oh yeah, we do. Um, mind facing me?"

Hermione swivelled around to face Harry, her eyes were slightly red(probably from crying) and she was chewing on her lip as usual. She moved to sit by the window pane, staring down at her feet.

Harry moved closer and sat by her feet, his back against the wall, facing the door.

"Well..Herms, I'm sorry for what I said today, and er, what I said yesterday. About you being shallow? That was really stupid of me." said Harry quietly, fiddling with his wand.

Hermione didn't reply, and instead stared outside her window, looking at the calm blue sky.

Harry looked up expectantly, and saw Hermione in a daze, and he sighed. "I..I know I was really,really, REALLY stupid to say those stuff about you, and about Malfoy," admitted Harry grudgingly, "but you got to understand something."

"Understand what?" asked Hermione, her voice was soft and quivered slightly as she spoke.

Harry stood up and sat next to her this time, and he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. "I'm scared of losing you, Herms. I can't bear to lose anything else." said Harry sadly, his emerald eyes downcast.

Hermione looked at the Boy Who Lived, now turned into such a handsome man; bright green eyes, messy but adorable black hair, built and tall. Now this man in front of her is telling her he can't live without her. Harry's eyes were looking down, and he didn't bring his head up, but Hermione smiled softly. Harry was such a sweetheart. He really was. To come up and apologise, she knew it was hard, since the one thing she loved most about Harry was his pride and his integrity. Now to bent his head down and say he was sorry to her, it was just too sweet.

Hermione gently removed her hands from Harry's, and instead flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Harry's arms went around her waist, and held her tightly.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, it was stupid to get angry like that." he mummered into her hair, holding her snug against him.

Hermione smiled and sighed contentedly. "Its okay Harry."

Harry smiled widely and pulled away, holding Hermione and arm's length, his eyes searching her face for a definite answer. "So you're not angry?"

Hermione laughed, and poked him hard in the chest. "No, but if you EVER do something like that again, I'll never talk to you again." said Hermione, but she didn't get to finish for Harry had engulfed her in a bone crushing hug.

As they were hugging, the pair heard a loud knock on the door and Ron's yell.

"OY! LOVEBIRDS! DUMBLEDORE WANTS US DOWNSTAIRS, NOW!" yelled Ron, even though he was just outside the door.

Harry and Hermione broke apart, startled by the yell and Harry flung open the door only to find a cheeky Ron, smiling mischeiviously at the two, arms folded and feet tapping. Harry punched him plafully on the shoulder, causing the freckled redhead to run downstairs with Harry and Hermione in hot pursuit. The Golden Trio ran down the stairs, bumping into Tonks and Remus(what were the two of them doing together anyway?), and rushing into the living room before flopping onto the couch, effectively monopolizing it.

The Weasley twins, Fred and George, were just sitting peacefully by the armchair talking to Anthony Goldstein when they heard AND saw the trio rush into the living room, laughing maniacally. Shaking his head, George tutted disapprovingly. "Childish behaviour! Really! Seventeen year olds!" he said, mimicking Mrs. Weasley's voice, only causing the trio to laugh even harder.

"God! George! You really sound like Mum!" Ron choked out, holding his sides as Hermione tickled him mercilessly. "Herm! Stop!"

Hermione did stop, and sat there, completely tired, in between Harry and Ron. Harry too, had his head flopped on Hermione's shoulder, whilst Ron did the same on her other shoulder.

"Well kids, any idea what we're doing here?" asked Fred, getting up from his squashy armchair.

Three blank faces shot back at Fred. "Okay. No idea." muttered Fred darkly. "Least you could do was respond!"

Anthony chuckled. "Dumbledore wants to speak to us Fred, thats why we at the other house were brought over."

"Clever, Goldstein, clever. But talk about what?"

This time it was Anthony's turn to shrug. "No idea."

Just as Anthony finished talking, the group of adult Order members, followed in shortly by a rather surly looking Terry Boot, entered the living room and settled down, Hermione was quick to avoid Terry's glares and focused her eyes on Dumbledore instead.

The elderly wizard stood up in the middle of the room and held his hands up to silence the Order. Mrs. Weasley was present, but Tonks was probably treating Malfoy, thought Hermione, and perked up to listen.

"Alright, thank you for all squeezing in here to listen to this old man." spoke Dumbledore, kindly, smiling at them. "Of course you know we have a DeathEater on our hands now. A sickly one yes, but still a DeathEater and Voldermort's rumoured heir in fact. Draco Malfoy. Now, what shall we do with him?"

**AHHH! it ends here! thanks for all the awesome reviews you guys, love ya all. (: anyhoo this chapter you see a little Harry/Hermione action. well, its not gonna last, DUH. because naughty ol' Draco has some tricks up his sleeve to seperate everyone's favourite duo. so next chapter, the Order decides Draco's fate, while the 'unconcious' flaxen hair hottie decides to start playing some mind games. OOH well. see ya soon and take care!**

**--lovecupid.**


	5. As Good As Potter

**A/N: AH! I'm so happy! I got a total of 14 reviews and new reviewers! AHAHAA. thanks so much! (: I LOVE YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING. I'm so glad that you guys liked it. i know in my third chapter i said draco and hermione would like talk or something in the fourth chapter, but when i wrote the fourth chapter..just couldn't find the right vibe to add draco in! sorry if i disappointed! this chapter draco's fate is decided, and our favourite heroine decides to pay draco a little visit. so i hope you enjoy it!**

**SlySlytherinPrincess- I like your name! (: Sorry about the chapter3/chapter4 mistake about saying draco would talk to hermione! when i wrote chapter four it just kinda got outta hand and i couldn't find space for draco! but i hope you'll enjoy this chapter though! thanks alot for your review! -shoots you a love arrow**

**siriuslysirius- did i spell your name correct! sorry if i made a mistake! haha. thanks so much for your reviews! i try to write as close to the character as possible. but if i do go a little OC sometimes, sorry! anyway thanks for your double reviews! enjoy this chapter! -shoots you a love arrow!**

**bookwormj- I know! sorry for my little absence and the wait. i was kinda caught up in projects. ): bahh. anyway THREE CHEERS FOR YOU too. you reviewed! hahaha! enjoy this chapter! -shoots you a BIIIG arrow and showers you with hearts**

**mysteriouscharm- thanks for your review! i'll keep on updating if you keep on reviewing! -shoots you a love arrow**

**okay! thanks for the fantastic reviews! (: love reading them! enjoy! i realise im quite late this time! so super sorry! its not tt im trying to get more reviews out of you guys, its just that i've been having a hell of a week. three projects, four tests...so little time! sorry! i shall try to update abt every friday or so? its that ok? im so so so sorryy. but hey, this chapter's longer. : -smirks**

**Chapter Five**

**His Fate Is Sealed..?**

The Order waited in baited breath as Dumbledore started speaking. The task at hand was what to do with the young Death Eater, currently concious and in pain, just two floors above the living room.

"I want you all to know that by offering young Mr. Malfoy a shelter, I am not trying to betray the Order. I believe many of you think that by not killing him, we are betraying those who died in his hands. However, what has been done has been done. Let us not be blindsided by the past, but look forward to the future, and this future well may involve Mr.Malfoy. I come to discuss what we shall do with him today." said Dumbledore, he was slightly repetitive today, thought Hermione, but brushed it aside and continued listening. But her eyes wandered towards Harry, and she saw his face harden slightly, he sat straighter, his hands clenched into fists. Her eyes too, flickered towards Terry Boot, who had a similar expression on his face.

Minerva McGonagall spoke up, the witch looked worn down by the various problems and aged considerably.

"Albus, according to Molly, Malfoy is concious and is recovering. He will soon be well enough to escape this household, and to turn against us like he did just a year ago. Can we take this risk?" she asked, her voice quivered and shook. The rest of the room burst out in similar sentiments, chattering and talking amongst themselves.

Albus held up a hand, silence once again descended on the members, and they listened to their leader intently.

"Wherther anot to take this risk, I cannot tell you if we should, but only tell you we must. We cannot let this man return to Voldermort, for we surely will all die in the impending war. We know Voldermort is weakening, but his ability to spread enimity is wide, and we've lost whatever relations we had with the Dark Creatures. In our current predicament, fighting Voldermort is not an option yet. But if we are able to convince Mr.Malfoy to join us in our fight, we may still have a chance."

Hermione, whose hand was entwined with Harry's, felt him tremble slightly, probably with anger, and she quickly squeezed his hand tighter, silently praying that he would not start another argument. Harry seemed to understand, and nodded stiffly.

This time Molly Weasley spoke up.

"Without his help are we really helpless against You-Know-Who?" Molly Weasley was trembling, her husband's arm was fastened on her shoulder, and her two sons, Fred and George, were seated by her side, protectively, but she felt to protection; only cold fear. Fear for her still estranged son, Percy, and fear for her other three children, now miles away from her, dodging and hiding from the Dark Lord as they were doing so now.

Albus Dumbledore nodded grimly, his blue eyes held no trace of fear in them, but desperate hope. "We can only hope that Mr. Malfoy was injured for betraying Voldermort, which is the most probable reason to his grave injuries. And if that truly is the reason why he has found his way to Filan's Canyon, then we can only hope that he betrayed him to go against him."

"But what if thats not the case? What if he truly is sent here to eliminate us?" asked Remus Lupin, hidden behind the two tall twins. Lupin looked haggard, the full moon was just a week ago, and there were dark circles around his eyes, hollowed cheeks and a haunting gaze adorned his face. He spoke too, without fear in his eyes, but instead a pleading hope.

Hermione felt her insides churn as she looked at the members of the Order who spoke up. They all had such haunting looks in their eyes; they all changed so much, looked so different.. They all acted so different. Gone were the happy-go-lucky characters of Fred and George Weasley, now replaced with seriousness. Gone too, were the charming loving ways of Mrs.Weasley, replaced by fear for her children, and fear for the Order. Becoming fugitives now, fugitives in the eye of Voldermort, running, dodging, hiding; who would have thought they now had no chance against Voldermort even when he was rapidly weakening? What logic was this? How could it be that a group of talented aurors and wizards and witches, could not bring down a dying Dark Lord?

But Hermione was awaken from her thoughts by Dumbledore's crystal voice.

"Then we are at his mercy. This is a gamble we must take. There are prophecies to be fufilled, when they are fufilled, no doubt the end is near for the Dark Lord, but we must not give up hope that it will happen. As far as we know, Draco Malfoy is our only card to play now." Dumbledore spoke softly, Hermione could see sadness in his eyes. Whatever this prophecy was, it must be a powerful one.

Harry was thinking similar thoughts, he knew that he would end up fighting Voldermort, and that either one must perish. But what did Dumbledore mean by 'prophecies'? Was there another one? Where was it? Who was in it? Most importantly, what would happen?

There was dissentment amongst the members when Dumbledore finished. Harry still had Hermione's hand clutched safely in his, and his green eyes were fixed on Dumbledore in an unwavering gaze, though Hermione could feel the aprehension coming from him though his face showed nothing but courage. She moved closer towards him, leaning her head slightly on his shoulder. She was glad to feel him relax a little, and seeing a hint of a smile on his face, she was satisfied. But their intimacy did not last for long.

"What do you propose to do then, Albus?" piped up Flitwick, who was seated on a chair, propped up by what looked like 6 volumes of 'Hogwarts, A History". The chatters stopped after Flitwick spoke, and all listened intently.

Dumbledore stroke his beard thoughtfully before replying. "I think we should sound him out as soon as he has regained full conciousness. Assess his true motives, make use of him whilst he still recuperates under our roof. He is much use even if he turns out to be a spy for Voldermort."

More chatters continued, but Dumbledore raise his hand once again and spoke even louder, his voice filled with determination. "That will be our plan for now. We cannot continue to deliberate on what to do with him. Voldermort is on our heels, we have to garner support. Is it alright to say that will be our plan momentarily? We have other matters to settle."

Though Hermione was quick to notice the resentment on certian member's faces, she was happy to see that most of them agreed with Dumbledore, and the matter was soon shelved. Draco Malfoy will remain in the house, and he will be treated like a member as soon as he was assessed. By who they did not know, but Hermione had her trust and faith in Dumbledore. She was renewed with hope, perhaps Malfoy really would turn over a new leaf. She was filled with questions, but could not raise them as Dumbledore had quickly proceeded to other matters.

"We need to send at least three Order members to venture nearer towards Hogwarts and find out what the situation is like. Our first attack is to reclaim Hogwarts, but that will indefinitely lead to a though smaller but equally fatal war. However, we need to spy on Hogwarts and see if we can contact any of the potraits. From my sources I know that Voldermort has not destroyed these potraits, but we must make contact quickly before we attempt to reclaim the castle. Any takers?" said Dumbledore, informing the Order of the next most important matter.

Harry, Ron and Hermione quickly raised their hands and volunteered. However, Dumbledore did not neccessary agree.

"Alright, Harry and Ron shall go. But Hermione, I need you to remain here and help Nymphadora and Molly with taking care of Draco Malfoy. I assure you, the two ladies will need your expertise in potion brewing for awhile before Severus arrives." said Dumbledore coyly, his eyes had a familiar twinkle in them.

Harry glowered at Dumbledore's orders, and struggled to maintain his composure, but nodded politely at Dumbledore.

"Alright. That is all, you may all return to your activities. The Order, stay behind." ordered Dumbledore, shooing the younglings of the Order out of the living room.(He had to throw Fred and George out)

They all clambered out of the living room mumbling and complaining. It was always like that, after a few missions and small talk, obviously unimportant matters; the teenagers would be banned from the official meeting.

Anthony and Terry had decided to go to the other house with Dean and Seamus for a game of good ol' Wizard's Chess, but Ron decided to forgo his favourite game and spend time instead with Fred, George, Harry and Hermione. His favourite group of people.

The group mulled around in the kitchen, chatting randomly and bursting out into laughter every now and then, gathered round the large table, Ron eating, Fred and George telling cracked up jokes while Harry and Hermione simply listened and offered a few variations on those dirty jokes(despite Hermione's protests, they continued joking)

Hermione was just feeling slightly bored with the whole gang of boys when the some of the Order filed into the kitchen, the meeting was over. The five immediately disbanded and went around bugging and begging for information.

Mrs. Weasley, seeing that the boys were a distance away from earshot, quickly pulled Hermione out of the kitchen and brought her to a landing on the second floor.

Molly Weasley looked at the young adosolent standing in front of her. Who knew that the prophecy concerned her? Molly would never have guessed that a muggleborn witch could have prophecies made about her. But what was made was made.

Hermione looked at Mrs. Weasley puzzledly, the blue eyed witch had a flicker of worry in her eyes, and seemed to be dazing off while staring at Hermione.

"Mrs Weasley? Are you okay?" Hermione's crystal clear voice woke Molly Weasley from her stupor, and she quickly regained her composure.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, did I gaze off?"

Hermione nodded meekly, smiling at the woman she looked up to for a motherly figure.

"Sorry again but I was rather..preoccupied." said Mrs. Weasley

"Its alright. But..why did you pull me away from the rest, and up here? Is something wrong?" Hermione's face was pale.

Mrs. Weasley chuckled, and shook the girl playfully. "Oh Gods, no! No, no, everything's fine. I just need to talk to you for awhile." said Mrs.Weasley kindly, smiling at the pretty young girl in front of her. So intelligent, so beautiful, so kind. No wonder Harry and Ron had a thing for her! Too bad her own son couldn't match up to the Boy-Who-Lived. Either way, Ron was better off without Hermione. All that friction and arguments between them! They bicker to incessitantly!

"Whew! I thought something bad happened." Hermione smiled, laughing at her own sillyness.

"Well, in times like this, its not too bad to be paranoid." muttered Mrs. Weasley darkly. "But let's not get into that topic now shall we? Albus wanted me to talk to you about taking care of our little..refugee."

"Draco Malfoy?"

"Yes. See here Hermione, you and young Draco were in the running for Head Girl/Boy, but of course, we all know that's not going to happen in the near future. But this only shows both your individual abilities. Severus Snape will not be with us for quite awhile, and this young boy needs potions some too difficult to concoct without Snape's help. We owled Snape, and he asked us to ask for your help."

"Me?" said Hermione weakly, would her dreaded Potions Teacher recommend her?

"Yes, dear, you. We do believe you are competent enough to help. But thats not the only way we need your assistance. Tonks and I are adults, its most likely Draco would not talk to us, nor relate to us, and definitely not befriend us. However, you are of his age, his intellectual equal, surely he'll take to you in due time!"

"But Mrs. Weasley! He hates me! And I hate him!" protested Hermione. The thought of befriending Malfoy disgusted her to say the least, though she felt sympathy for his injuries, she still could not forget how many loved ones had died under his cruel hands.

Mrs. Weasley wrapped an arm around Hermione and motioned her to sit down on a bench. "Hermione, we know you and the boys have a horrid relationship with Draco, and we're quite positive he hates you. But time heals all wounds. He may not be as bad as he seems, seeing how he has travelled here, and from what Albus says, he is certain Draco is trying to turn over a new leaf. We could use another talented youngling like him! Hermione, he is You-Know-Who's trump card, and now even if Draco has the littlest, slightest want of turning over a new leaf; we MUST help him!" said Mrs. Weasley, her voice very determined, reminding Hermione of the talks-or rather arguments- she had with Harry, trying to convince him that Malfoy may be good. Convincing others always was easier then convincing yourself.

Hermione shook her head wearily. "Mrs. Weasley, I..I don't think I'm up to it. I mean, think of what Harry will do!"

Mrs. Weasley smiled indulgently, "Albus thought of it already, don't you remember? Harry and Ron will be away on a mission for the Order!"

Hermione could only utter a soft 'Oh' and quickly searched her mind for another excuse.

"Look, dear, Albus is now talking to them and briefing them. And it will take quite awhile. Why don't you bring Draco a bowl of soup?"

Hermione was stunned. "S...S..Soup?"

Mrs. Weasley clucked impatiently. "Yes,yes, soup!" before she impatiently flicked her wand and a tray consisting of a hot bowl of soup appeared with a neat little spoon and a little bit of bread. Mrs. Weasley then shoved the tray into Hermione's hands, smiled warmly at her.

"I'll go take care of the twins, so go! Rest assured Harry and Ron won't find out anything!" beamed Mrs. Weasley as she trottered downstairs quickly, occasionally flashing Hermione smiles while going down the steps.

Now left alone on the landing, Hermione looked down at the bowl of hot piping soup.

_Help Malfoy? Should I really? Mrs. Weasley DID assure me that Harry won't find out, and besides, I'll have no company once the two of them are away on a mission. I do have to help Tonks and Mrs. Weasley and EVENTUALLY talk to Draco Malfoy..._

Thoughts swirled in her mind and she visioned Harry and Ron, standing before her, glowering. Harry was yelling at her, Ron was on the verge of bursting and all she could do was smile weakly. Another picture swerved into her mind. Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, the rest of the adult Order, all disappointed because she didn't help them.

Hermione weighed her options, making up her mind quite quickly, and walked down the corridor towards a black door at the end of the level.

Draco Malfoy fidgeted uncomfortably on the cotton bed, a cotton blanket covered him from his neck down to his toes.

_Stupid mudblood loving Order. Can't even afford a proper silk blanket. This damn thing is giving me welts I swear! _

Draco cursed Dumbledore and all of the Order one by one as he laid as still as he could, his eyes closed shut, waiting for the perfect moment to miraculously open his eyes. Waiting to 'wake up' for that special person.

Of course he had gotten it all figured out. He was, afterall, Draco Malfoy. In sixth year, he was just about THE object to have. Girls wanted to coddle and cuddle him, they threw themselves on him, flailing arms and legs, grabbing his fine silk cloaks, positively drooling over him. But in all fairness, there was a reason for all that insanity. The boy-well, young man-had a beautiful face. Clear grey eyes, often emotionless and cold, but beautiful lashes adorn his eyes, not too long that he looked too girly, but not to short either. Sharp perfect nose, unlike those ugly lumps on the rest of the Slytherin boy's faces. And that body.. It was a wonder half the girls in Hogwarts still remained chaste; when there was such a temptation rolling around.

Draco smirked at the thought of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, those two Gryffindor bimbos, tailing him in the last few months at Hogwarts. Absoulutely desperate to get a word through to him. Especially that Lavender Brown girl, not too much of a looker, yet she acted like a hooker! (A/N: Hey hey! Rhyme!)

Now all he was doing was waiting for the perfect person to come up before he 'wakes up'. _Knowing her, she'd probably think that she caused me to regain conciousness or something!_ thought Draco evilly, a smirk playing on his still face.

Just as he was wallowing in his thoughts, his keen ears picked up a soft pattering sound. _Feet._

The noise got louder as it approached, and Draco quickly continued his facade, the still 'dead' face on, his body still, hands cold. It wasn't hard really, a piece of cake compared to those nasty Cruciatus Training Sessions old Voldie had. Hoping and wishing _that_ person had arrived, Draco waited impatiently.

The pattering of feet stopped close to the door. The sound continued for awhile, but there was no one coming into the room. The person seemed to be considering his/her options, and reluctant in coming in.

Draco had half a mind who that really was, but he hid a smirk, and played on with his 'dead' role.

But the feet, and the person who owned them, finally did enter, as Draco heard the now all too familiar creaking of the door. The door snapped shut, and he could smell a scent of vanilla waft into the rooms. It took him awhile to realise the smell was coming from the person itself, as the person bent closer to place a tray of hot soup on the bedside table. All this were observed critically with a roving eye that was slightly opened. But he couldn't get a closer look at the person.

_Is it that dumpy Weasley again? Or my screwed up cousin?_

Draco was about to give up hope, when he heard a soft sigh emit from the person. So feminine, so frail sounding. A female was in range. Not just any female. A young one. And Draco was quite sure he already knew who that was.

The person had settled herself quite on a chair by the window in the unbelievably cramped room. Her back was slightly facing Draco, she seemed to be pondering about something. Draco quickly took the chance to open his eyes ever so slightly and he caught sight of the girl. Her side profile was unmistakable.

She was beautiful.

Mudblood Granger was beautiful. Brown hair, still slightly bushy, but a lot tamer, now casaded down her back. Her face looked weary and thin from the side. But there was no mistaking those intelligent brown eyes with dark lashes and the rosy cheeks. Granger was in the house.

Draco smirked, and quickly formulated a 'recovery' plan to stun the unknowing Gryffindor, now currently weighing her options about whether to get closer to that scheming devious Slytherin.

He waited for awhile. Then he stretched his legs a little, the rustling of the blanket brought the Gryffindor know-it-all out of her stance, and she looked at the Slytherin, and from that little crack in his eyes, he could see genuine kindness and concern in them.

He was slightly stunned, but soon recovered quickly as she hurried towards the bed and sat down gingerly on it, watching him intently. He tossed a little, and he groaned too much, but finally he peeled his grey eyes open slowly and in his most dramatic voice ever, he croaked out a hello.

"Gr..Granger?" he muttered as weakly as he can, hard as he was already excited by this game. At first he had dreaded it, thought Voldie was crazy to send him after a ugly mudblood. However, seeing her face now, he was quite sure this game was going to be a fun one to play.

"Hello Malfoy." Hermione smiled slightly, "How is His Evilness doing today?" she joked softly, in half-jest. Draco could sense a foreboding feeling from her. She was afraid of him.

_All to make the game better._

"His Evilness is going to take a new turn in life." said Draco sweetly, scrunching up his eyes and stretching a little(he presumed that was what most unconcious people did), "Call me insane; but I'm as good as Potter now."

**END! Hahahaha. do you hate me? oooh. i love the writing the draco stuff. i got all riled up thinking of how hot tom felton is. (: oh wells. i hope with this chapter you'll enjoy the weekend!**


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